Matt Tifft To Make NASCAR XFINITY Series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing

• TIME TO SHINE, MATT TIFFT MAKES XFINITY SERIES DEBUT AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY: This weekend at Kentucky Speedway, Matt Tifft will make his NASCAR XFINITY Series debut in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC). The 19-year-old Hinckley, Ohio native currently runs a part-time schedule in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports and competes in a limited amount of ARCA Series events throughout the year. Tifft has one previous start in the Bluegrass State which came from last year’s ARCA event where he finished second.

• BALANCING ACT: Along with a busy racing career, Tifft also manages being a full-time student at UNC Charlotte where he majors in Business Management.

• JGR AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY: Joe Gibbs Racing has 43 NASCAR XFINITY Series start at Kentucky Speedway. In those 43 starts, the team has three wins, four pole-starting positions, 17 top-five finishes, 24 top-10 finishes, an average start of 9.4 and an average finish of 12.1. In addition, the team has led 806 laps and completed 8,066 of 8,510 attempted laps (94.8%). Joey Logano claimed all three wins and one pole (2008, 2009, 2010), while Denny Hamlin claimed one pole starting position (2006) at Kentucky Speedway.

• RACE INFO: The VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at Kentucky Speedway is scheduled for September 26, 2015 at 8:00 p.m. ET. Watch and listen live on NBCSN, Sirius XM Channel 90 and PRN Radio.

From the Cockpit:

Matt Tifft: “I’m really excited for this opportunity to run my first NASCAR XFINITY Series race with the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing and to have UNC Charlotte on the No. 20 Toyota Camry. This is definitely a big step. JGR has been super fast all year and they definitely seem to be on a roll. It’s a chance for me to race with the best equipment in the garage. It’s a huge opportunity for me and it’s really cool to get a shot. Kentucky is a unique track — it’s just so rough. It has a lot of character and it’s very different from other mile-and-a-half tracks — you really have to make sure the car is balanced. Although this will be my first time in an NXS car, I did finish second in an ARCA race at Kentucky last year.”

From the Pit Box:

Mike Wheeler: “Going back to Kentucky after being so close to a win earlier this season is motivating for all of our team. We’re bringing the same car we competed with back in July, so I’m equally excited about the possibilities with Matt Tifft. We’ve had several good runs with a few different young guys this year and I’m hoping to do the same with Matt this weekend.”

UNC Charlotte is North Carolina’s urban research institution. With an enrollment ranking it fourth among the 17 schools in the UNC system, it is the largest public university in the greater Charlotte metropolitan region. A doctoral institution, UNC Charlotte serves the region through applied research, knowledge transfer and engaged community service. Almost 28,000 students, including more than 5,000 graduate students, are enrolled in one of the University’s comprehensive doctoral, master’s or bachelor’s programs. Follow UNC Charlotte on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/UNCCharlotte or on Twitter https://twitter.com/unccharlotte and https://twitter.com/uncclt_news